Georgianna

Someone from American history that I didn’t know about before this trip is Georgianna, a 13 year old slave. I learned about her by reading the ad in the paper put in to sell her at the Legacy museum. The description included: “About 13 years... She is very valuable and desirable... She will make a tall strong woman, smart enough for inside work, and strong enough for the field or road.” And it wasn’t even just Georgianna’s in that section but also her parents. Her dad Old George stayed: “As faithful and honest an Old African as ever lived.” And “His wife Judy- the same sort of character.” 

Reading these descriptions of these enslaved people appalled me. The fact that these people had the audacity to speak about the enslaved people in such a nice and positive manner, and then go on and treat them so horrible is absolutely immoral and wrong.  Also, the fact that the white people kidnapped and took these people from their homelands and forced them to come to America and become enslaved, and then have the audacity to “give them names” and speak about them so highly, but still manage to treat them as not-human is disgusting. 

Old George, Judy, and Georgianna are just 3 of these enslaved people who dealt with these realities. I don’t want to forget about them. And about all of the people, including the ones who barely even got one sentence besides their age which determines “what price they were worth.” The heartbreaking truth, is that this description in the newspapers was the only information about these enslaved people. Once they were sold, it would be very likely if you never heard from them again. I’d love to look more into if there is more information about other enslaved people, not just this description and not necessarily a “famous” or well-known slave, but those who were less known whose lives were equally as important. 

-Taura Zarfeshan